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Voyeurs on Tour: Garden Tour Rules

© Barbara M. Martin

Dear reader, please note: Thank you for visiting my Cottage Garden topic and reading my columns, published here from February 1997 through spring 2003! I regret I am no longer actively editing or contributing to this suite101.com topic as of mid-2003. Happy Gardening! This Cottage Garden column was written by Barbara M. Martin and is Copyrighted by Barbara M. Martin. It may not be altered or copied or published elsewhere in whole or in part without specific permission from the author.

Voyeurs on Tour!

This is the season for indulging our voyeuristic tendencies. By that, I mean spring is garden tour time. We love the opportunities for garden viewing and flock to every open garden we can cram into the schedule.

While I love the large public gardens where the displays have been created with grand expectations in mind, I have begun to prefer visiting the private gardens lovingly created to suit the individual owner's taste. These private gardens maybe large or small, but they are always unique and filled with surprises.

I learn something in every garden I visit, so I try to enjoy as many as I possibly can. Some inspire me, some show me new solutions to common problems, some are so totally outside my personal taste that they make me shudder. But I always learn something new and, for me, that is much of the joy and ongoing appeal of gardening.

Whether the garden I am visiting is a large estate or a tiny jewel box of a city pocket garden, I try to treat it with respect. That means I watch my feet, keep my hands to myself, and try not to impede traffic when I stop to take a photo. I also take my coffee cup away with me and try to drive in and out quietly without disturbing the neighborhood. Complimenting the gardener is always a good idea, and thanking them for the opportunity to visit is just the polite thing to do.

Recently I have had the opportunity of discussing garden touring with some garden owners whose properties have been on tour. The consensus is that while it is a thrill to have people want to come and see the results of your hard work, it is also disheartening to see the carnage a garden tour crowd can leave behind. Some of the damage is inevitable and to be expected, such as a trampled lawn. But some of the damage is willful or just plain careless and inexcusable.

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